Tagged again!

Tagged, by god! Well by Vics really but I’m sure she won’t object to the comparison *wink*

Anyway the little minx tagged me for the following meme, and a damned hard one it was too. As I said to her, I have trouble thinking of two things that I want to do today, let alone…

Ten Things I've Never Done, But Intend to Do Before I Die:

1. Sing Karaoke, and no I didn’t put this one in just for you Vics, but I’m not going to object if you want to help me achieve it.

2. Have a child. One way or another I will have a child to raise, whether I produce one myself or have to go an alternative route. Wookie isn’t so keen on the alternative route thing.

3. Own a dog. This is something else that Wookie is opposed to. I think the number of cats would have to be reduced for him to agree. Not deliberately reduced you understand, although he’d be more than happy to oblige on that front. He’s not really a pet person.

4. Produce and sell my own cross-stitch designs. I suspect I’m cheating a little with this one because I’m already working on some designs, they’re just not going very well at the moment.

5. Purchase one of these. I’ve wanted one ever since they were released but I couldn’t afford it at the time. Then when I could they’d run their limit (450 pieces worldwide) and I couldn’t get one anywhere. I’ve seen a couple on Ebay (in the US) and most annoyingly missed the end of the auction on one a couple of weeks ago that nobody bid on (in the UK *sob*), and I would’ve paid the starting price for it, no problem.

6. Actually FINISH a big TW design. I have two on the go at the moment (Night and Celestial Dragon), one of which has been in my WIP pile for nigh on 16 years now. I have many more charts in my stash and yet the only piece of hers that I’ve actually finished is Futurecast (see this years finishes in my sidebar) and he’s a diddy piece.

7. Stitch all of MLI’s Celtic Ladies. I’ve done Celtic Christmas but there’s still Spring, Summer, Autumn and finally Winter to go. I’m definitely changing the colours on Autumn and I may well make some slight adjustments to the colours on Winter as well. I’m just waiting for the fabric to start Autumn.

8. Produce a website and integrated business package for my jewellery business. Ambitious I know, but I also know I’m capable of it, it’s just finding the time.

9. Turn the field part of my garden into a flower, shrub and tree-filled wilderness. I want to try and stick with native plants where possible. I think the hardest thing is going to be encouraging the wildflower seeds to take root in the densely packed grass. So far everything I’ve read about it says it’s hard to do, and easier to dig it all up and seed again with a grass and wildflower seed mixture. But the field is about an acre, which is a lot to dig up and start again. More research needed yet.

10. Meet Vics and administer a spanking for tagging me *smirk*.

So there you go. I’ve tried to stick with things that I am actually capable of achieving but that will take a certain amount of effort or guts on my part (except maybe that last one!). I’m not going to tag anyone specifically with this but if anyone would like to pick it up and do it, please be my guest, just leave me a note to let me know.

Have a nice holiday weekend all (yes it’s a holiday weekend here in the UK as well as over in the US), and if it’s not a holiday for you well, have a great weekend anyway.

SBQ

How do you deal with a ‘stitching slump?’

Simply put, I do something else. I leave my stitching out and about for a few weeks and sometimes I’ll pick it back up again after a few days or so, and carry on. If it goes on for more than a couple of months it usually gets packed away until I feel like getting it out again. In the meantime I get on with one or other of my other hobbies, I’ve got several.

Occasionally a slump will be brought on, not by the lack of desire to stitch but by the greater desire to do something else. So I’ll focus all my time and energy on the other thing and the poor stitching will fall by the wayside.

I’ve had slumps that have lasted a few days. I’ve had others last a few years. Each time I come back to the stitching and carry on where I left off.

In other stitching news, Purr-dicament is about halfway done and it's a holiday weekend coming up so hopefully I should have a HD to share soon. On the downside, there's still no sign of my RR piece and I'm waiting for more news from the Post Office, I emailed them all the details last Friday and aside from a mail telling me that they're looking into it, I've heard nothing more. *sniff* I'm going to have to give serious thought to doing it all over again very soon if it doesn't show up. Of course you know as soon as I put the last stitch in the rework, the original will appear.

Desperate and needy

I don't like to beg but I really need help. Not that kind of help you cheeky gits!

I’m desperate, really really desperate. Despite the fact that we have been able to get broadband at our new domicile now for the last four months. FOUR MONTHS!!! We. Still. Don’t. Have. It.

And boy do I need it.

Why don’t we have it yet? Well. Let me tell you. It’s all Wookie’s fault.

Y’see first off he had to choose the perfect ISP, you know what men are like, so that took the best part of a month, because basically he doesn’t focus the way women focus. He’d been the one to bitch and whine and complain when I chose a house that didn’t have broadband access, and I’d had to promise him that I would pay for satellite broadband because he absolutely had to have it. Then we discovered that BT were going to be upgrading our exchange in January (we moved in last October) and he grudgingly agreed (bitch, whine, complain) to wait for that to happen and suffer on dial-up until then.

So the day comes when the upgrade takes place, and lo, our phone line is broadband capable. So after all the moaning (and bitching and whining and complaining) you’d think he’d be there on the day to sign up. But no. After repeated verbal prodding from me he told me he was waiting for a new service to be set up, whereby you get your connection at whatever speed the line can take rather then the old system of paying more for a faster connection. This will be up and running in a couple of weeks he told me. Ok. So I wait.

So then the service is up and OMG he actually starts the signup procedure and this is where the major problem occurred. You see we are both going to be using this connection and the mail account that goes with it. And god forbid he should have just any old username, but to give him a smidgen of credit, he didn’t want to pick a username that was relevant to him but not to me.

So began the great username debate. The damn thing has to be between 5 and 16 characters long, only alphabetic and numeric characters allowed. He’s suggested a few, some of which I thought were ok but they had already been taken, I’ve suggested tons of the blasted things and most of them he’s vetoed, the remaining ones he’s not 100% happy about and so we still don’t have a bloody account.

A couple of the ones that were tried were Purgatory and Pandemonium. Others suggested have included Acheron and Tartarus (sensing a theme yet *grin*). Rejected suggestions have included Cathouse (well I thought it was funny), Albatross (a-la Monty Python) and Armadillo (crunchy on the outside soft on the inside). Another suggestion was ThePub as in Wookie@thepub…., which he thought was funny the first few times but then he decided it would wear thin after a while, so that was out too.

So I’m now asking for your help. I want suggestions for our new username, anything at all, with an explanation if there is one. Lob them in the comments and I will offer them up to him like sacrificial lambs. Who knows, if he actually likes one of them and it gets used I may even give a little prize to the person who suggested it.

Help me please.

I’ve got a date!

I’m all excited and nervous at the same time. I’ve got a date! Not that kind of date thankyewverymuch, I’m happily living in sin people.

I’ve got a date for my gynaecological consultation and examination, woo! It’s on the 24th June. As you can imagine I’m very happy about this, it’s about time. However I’m also very nervous about it. Not just for the usual reasons but for the fact of the nature of the doctor that I’m going to see. You see it’s a male doctor, not a problem in itself, but the name is such that I think he’s Asian. Please note that I am not racist. I have many friends from many different cultures and racial backgrounds and other than an interest in their culture and customs I couldn’t care less about their heritage.

My issue with male Asian doctors is all down to one specific individual. When I was a mere babbie of 19 I had to have an internal (gyno-type) examination and my very first smear test. All of which was administered by the most unpleasant doctor it has been my misfortune to encounter. I was in an emotionally vulnerable state at the time and nobody had explained what was going on or what rights I had. This man had all the bedside manner of a spitting toad and the compassion of an alligator. I was brusquely told to remove my lower half garments and get on the table, oh and these students will be observing the procedure. That’s right, I was told that the students would be watching and at the time I had no idea that I could actually refuse. So there were half a dozen student doctors there, just to make my embarrassment even worse. He performed the exam and then asked me if I’d had a smear test in the last three years. When I looked puzzled he realised that I had no idea what one even was and so without so much as a by your leave he whips out the speculum, the COLD speculum and whoop! crank crank crank; out comes the oversized iced lolly stick and whoop! scrape scrape owwwwwwie. Not one single attempt to soothe me or get me to relax. I pity the patients who are now being treated by those student doctors given the education they received that day.

Now I understand that it’s quite irrational to tar and feather all male Asian doctors simply because of the actions of one member of the group and to be honest, if I was seeing him about any other problem, I would be fine with it. It’s the fact that I’m probably going to be in the same situation as before that is making me dread the appointment I’ve waited so long for, and in case you're wondering, any male gyno-doctors make me nervous now.

Oh and because of that experience it was 8 years before I got up the courage to book myself in for another smear test.

There is a funny side to all this though. Since I got the letter at the weekend I’ve been making plans. My appointment is at 3:10pm and since it’ll take me about 1¼ hours to get home from work I’ll have to leave about 1pm. I’ve got to go home first because I’ll have to have a wash before I go for my appointment. Oh and I need a trim too, and I mustn’t forget to do my legs a couple of days before, hmm, anything else?

Wookie’s only comment was a grumble that this doctor is getting better primping than he ever gets *grin*

Oh yes, clean knickers without holes in are an absolute must.

Search terms round-up

It’s time once more for a round-up of the search terms that are leading people here. However before I get stuck in I have a message for one particular visitor.

If you are the sick and twisted bastard who actually visited my site looking for "kitty torture" then I hope you die a slow and lingering death someday soon. It’s bad enough that you were searching for that in the first place, I can’t imagine it was for any innocuous reasons, but you actually followed the link to my site, otherwise I wouldn’t know you’d done it. You are scum.

Right, back to normal programming.

I’ve been wondering my I seem to get so many people coming here looking for “Sore Toe” from Yahoo. Well I decided to take a look for myself the other day and you’ll never guess what, I’m the number one result! Yay, finally first at something *grin*

Ok, I’ll start with the more normal ones and work my way up to the truly weird (and there are some doozies this time), and then I’ll do the pornographic ones. It would seem that the baiting is paying off slowly.

Photo of ingrown cat toenail – Unless you were searching for this for some vicarious reasons of your own, I really hope you found what you need and that your poor kitty is better now.

Adult Kitty – If it’s actual cat pictures you’re looking for then there’s some in my Photo album (link in sidebar), if it's THOSE sort of pictures you’re looking for, try using Excite as your search engine.

Chippendale Waiters – What you mean they really exist! *mmmmmm*

Woozle Suze and Suze Woozle Secret Blogsite – Hey sweets you’re popular, but what’s this about a secret blogsite, nobody invited me *waaah*

Want to blow my nose – Erm, that’s what tissues are for, surely? If you’re old enough to be typing this request coherently into a search engine then you should be old enough to cope with this without having to look up directions online.

How do you get rid of bingo wings – If I knew this I’d have written a book and I’d be rich and famous, and I wouldn’t be the not-so-proud possessor of my own pair.

Shitty Kitty – Ok so I know I wrote a post with this title, but seriously people, why would you be searching for it, why?

Ok now we’re into the weird stuff:

Obese lady in green pics – hmm.

When the melting comes over me – really? do tell me more *grin*

Skeleton with extra cheese – is this the latest line at McDonalds then?

And finally, in the ‘Immense disappointment to the searcher’ category:

Shitty knickers – you people!

Lysette Anthony stripping – oh don’t you just wish, sorry, no naked pics of Ms Anthony here, aren’t you just fed up.

Well ladies and gents, that concludes the latest round of ‘Weird shit that people search for’

Book Meme

I've been tagged for this by a Total Loony

Total number of books I’ve owned:
That would be lots, and lots, and lots, and lots….. I’m pretty sure I currently own in the region of 1500 paperbacks and 200+ hardbacks. I very rarely get rid of books unless I know for sure I’ll never ever want to read them again or I couldn’t actually finish them in the first place. I’ve maybe given away 100 books in my life. I’ve still got all my teenage books, and do occasionally pick them up for a read.

The last book I bought:
Was Earthsea by Ursula K LeGuin . Unfortunately this was also the book that was in my bag when it was stolen, so I’m going to have to buy it again soon.

The last book I read:
If you look in my sidebar there’s actually a list of the last 20 books I’ve read and the one I’m currently reading, but for the sake of the meme, the last one I finished was The Spell Sword by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It’s one of her Darkover books that I’m slowly working my way through again.

5 books that mean a lot to me:
These are the five that are primarily responsible for my love of fantasy and, to a lesser degree, science fiction. Although I can’t include it because it’s not really a book, the BBC Radio play of Lord of the Rings was also a major factor in this.
Dragonlance Chronicles – Margaret Weiss & Tracey Hickman
Mists of Avalon – Marion Zimmer Bradley
Number of the Beast – Robert Heinlein
Dragonflight – Anne McCaffrey
A Spell for Chameleon – Piers Anthony

Tag 5 people and have them fill this out on their blogs:
I think I’m going to struggle to find five people here. I’ll definitely tag Plush because she reads a lot and I don’t think she’s done this yet. Shannon, as an author herself I’d be interested to see what she reads. Snowball, not sure if she reads much but this is one way of finding out. Vics definitely reads, she’s been pinching ideas from me, so consider yourself tagged too sweets. I can’t decide on another one so if you want to do this and I haven’t already tagged you then consider yourself tagged, just leave me a comment so I know you’ve done it.

Stitching and SBQ

I’ve finally got around to adding the links for my two RR finishes to the sidebar. The mystery piece will have to remain a mystery for a while longer.

I wanted to try and get on with finishing Middy, especially now I have my little pot of Thread Heaven, but wouldn’t you just know, I can’t find the box of threads and the chart now *grr* Ah well, at least I know where Middy herself is. I just feel I ought to finish her before I start on Egyptian Garden. Now I’ve seen just how big the piece of fabric is, it’s brought it home to me just what a mammoth project it’s going to be.

In the meantime I’ve started another small piece, Purr-dicament by Margaret Sherry. I’ve seen many of her designs and thought that they were quite sweet, but most of them come as kits with Aida in, and as I mentioned in last weeks SBQ, I’d really have to fall in love with something to spend the money on a kit only to then replace the fabric. I came into possession of the one I’m stitching when a fellow stitcher put it up for sale on one of the forums I frequent. It actually included evenweave fabric, and since this has to be the most adorable of her cat designs (IMO), and it reminds me of my boy Muscles (lost Nov 2003), I decided I had to have it. It’s stitching up quite quickly but it’s also introduced me to a new version of fractional stitch, one done vertically or horizontally rather than diagonally. I must admit I’d never thought of doing it before, but now I see them in action I can see just how useful they are. Of course they would be quite tricky to do on Aida but then that’s not really an issue for me. Gives me a few ideas for my own designs.

Well that’s the stitching round-up for now, so on to the Stitching Bloggers Question:

How many strands of floss to you prefer to stitch with? Why?

I usually stitch with two strands and that’s entirely due to the fact that I usually use 28 or 32 count fabric over two. When stitching over one I’ll use one strand of thread, although I’ve recently seen someone suggest using two strands and tent stitch for over one pieces. Another piece I stitched recently used one strand of thread (over two) deliberately to give a ‘background’ effect to the stitching, much in the same way that some designs use tent stitch or half cross.

I’ve also done some embroidery and there too I use two strands of thread. In this case it’s due to the fact that some of the stitches involve splitting the previous stitch and it’s just easier to do with an even number of threads. Also, trying to get more than two strands to lie flat becomes a bit of a trial.

Suze has tagged me for a book meme so you can look forward to that one tomorrow.

It’s a curse I tell you

I promised you the tale of the family curse, so, are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin…

‘Twas a dark and stormy night… ok it wasn’t, but it sounds better for the start of the story. The first incident I remember was about 17 years ago when I was on holiday with my parents in France. We used to go caravanning all the time and this holiday was no different. Except that it was.

Before the holiday my dad had been trying to get a spare wheel for the caravan. He’d not managed to because the caravan was a German make and no one in the UK stocked parts for it. He’d have to order one from Germany and it wouldn’t arrive in time for the holiday, so he didn’t bother. Our first day travelling in France we were detoured off the main road and through this little French town, down lots of twisty turny little French streets. Over in France manhole covers are set into the pavement (sidewalk) and they are square and usually right up to the kerb. So when dad had to negotiate a particularly tight bend, the caravan wheel mounted the pavement, and when it came down again it was with the wheel rim squarely on one of these metal covers, totally wrecking the wheel.

Imagine the scene. British holidaymakers, in a little French town, broken down in the middle of a diversion, completely unable to move the caravan from where it was. This was around 10am. Fortunately dad had European breakdown assistance, so off we went to the nearest phone box to place the call. About two hours later a tow truck turned up, driven by a typical car mechanic. Now both my parents and myself speak some French, but this guy spoke rural French, and not a word of English. Imagine someone from the states trying to understand someone from a small village in Somerset, hell, I can’t understand them! So after much gesticulating we finally understood that he would take the wheel away and try to get a replacement. Off he went, and there we sat. For a further SEVEN hours. Because of where we’d broken down someone had to stay with the car at all times otherwise the local gendarmes would’ve been upset, so we took it in turns to mooch around the town, get drinks and sandwiches at the local café and generally try not to stick out like a whole fistful of sore thumbs.

Finally the mechanic came back, and lo! he had a new wheel with him. More gesticulation ensued and we finally understood the reason for the long delay. The wheel had just made the trip across Europe from the manufacturer in Germany! Turns out they’d had to order one from the manufacturer, who then put it on a train in Germany, it travelled across the countries until it reached the nearest big station in France and the mechanic had had to drive to the station to collect it, and then bring it to us.

At the time we jokingly commented to each other that if dad hadn’t been looking at getting a spare then none of this would have happened.

Well…

The next incident was when I was a student. I had a little car to get about in, and I had one of those crooklocks for the steering wheel. I had been considering buying a new stereo, which I mentioned to my dad and he said I could have his spare (far better than mine). Off I went for a visit and the new stereo was fitted. Around that time there was an increase in the number of thefts of car stereos, so I wondered if it would be worth getting a stereo lock. This device is inserted into the cassette player and then locked into place in there, and had a cable tether to go around the steering wheel. So if someone wanted to steal the stereo they would have to practically wreck it to get it out of the car.

Well you know what thought did. Not two days after my musings, some *&^*!?* broke into my car and stole my totally unprotected stereo.

Hmm.

My mother has mentioned a couple more of this type of incident to me, but I don’t remember the details right now. Suffice to say that in each case an unpleasant event followed an innocent unacted-upon thought. You’d think, in my family, we’d know better by now. You think something like this then you do it, or else.

So, I’m sure you’re all wondering how this relates to my handbag being stolen. Well I’ll tell you. Last week I entertained not one but two innocent thoughts:

1. Hmm, I could really use a new handbag; the strap on this one’s getting a bit frayed.
2. I wonder if I can justify getting a new mobile phone…

See. I should be slapped.

Just let me get my hands on them...

I’ve had a wonderful weekend. No. Really.

Hmm, you can sense the sarcasm can’t you.

It started out ok. I had the day off work on Friday for the man to come and replace the door panel so that the catflap could be fitted. Not only did he come when he said, but he was actually early! So it was all done by 9:30am.

Then I decided to take a trip to Ikea to get a storage unit for the living room so I could actually tidy up in such a way that didn’t leave neat little piles all over the place. So I spent 2 hours mooching round Ikea trying to choose something, then loaded it up and headed home. The next 2 hours were spent putting the dratted thing together and then I started tidying. That was about 6pm. Wookie came home from work about 10pm. I’d just got out of the shower after tidying, hoovering and washing the windows. I don’t clean very often but when I do, boy do I clean! However, not one word did he say about the tidying or cleaning, oh no, what did I get… "What on earth is that?" says he (in tones of disgust), pointing at the new unit. Things went downhill from there.

Saturday we had planned to go to a games convention (role-playing, board games etc…), but as I had an appointment in the morning, he was travelling there on the train with a friend of ours, D, and I was going to meet them there later. I got there about 1pm and we spent the afternoon and evening making new friends and introducing them to some new games that we like and learning some new games from other people. Around 9:30pm I was organising a game called Are you a Werewolf? It’s a great game that needs about 12+ people to play. You have a group of players, most of them are villagers, 2 are werewolves and one is a seer. The werewolves get to eat one villager a night and the seer gets to ‘see’ whether a chosen villager is a werewolf or not and then during the day the remaining villagers (inc wolves) have to choose someone to lynch. If the villagers manage to lynch the werewolves before they all get eaten then they win, otherwise the werewolves win. It’s all very raucous and wonderful fun. This finished around 10pm, which was also the time the event finished for the day. So we started to pack up and this was when I noticed that my handbag had gone.

Some SCUMBAG had stolen my handbag *grr*

Fortunately I had my car keys, house keys and work mobile in my pocket, but everything else, my purse, cards, personal mobile, etc… were all in my bag. (Note for my American readers, here in the UK our purse is what we keep our money and cards in, our handbag is what we keep the kitchen sink in *grin*) I managed to get my cards and stuff cancelled within an hour of them being pinched, and when I got home I got my mobile sim card locked out. Wookie and D had both been drinking steadily throughout the day and were totally and utterly arseholed by this point, and about as much use as a condom machine in the Vatican. So while I was talking to the call centre to get my cards stopped and trying to get back to the car to get it out of the car park before they locked up for the night, Wookie and D were having difficulty standing, let alone walking, and were more interested in where they could get some food from. We eventually left around 11:30pm, I dropped D off at home about 12:30am after having stopped on route so he could have a quick chat with the cardinal *bleach*, then it was another half-hour before we made it home.

Now I have to go through the process of replacing everything. I’ve already managed to get a new bag. It’s quite a relief, I felt naked without it. Wookie took me to the pub for lunch yesterday and when I got out of the car I automatically went to grab my bag, as I walked into the pub it just felt so weird not having my bag on my shoulder, it was horrible.

Of course I found out yesterday that my home insurance doesn’t cover personal possessions outside the home so I’m having to cover the cost of replacing everything myself. It’s not like I can’t afford it, I can just thing of loads more things I’d rather be spending my money on.

Yesterday was better. It was a nice day weather-wise and I managed to sneak down to the bottom of the garden with my camera when the geese were there with their babies and get lots of close up photos and a couple of little films of them. I’ll post some of those later this week; they’re so cute. I’ll also noticed that the coots have hatched four little cootlings and there’s also loads of ducklings, but I couldn’t get close enough to photograph them. I really should just build a blind at the bottom of the garden.

I’m sure the stealing of my handbag has to do with the family curse. I’ll tell you about that tomorrow…

Just shove their little heads in the sand…

Thanks to Anita for inspiring me to another discourse about life…

Anita’s post today is about the ever increasing tendency of parents and schools to remove things such as rankings and gradings for fear of traumatising those who are unable to achieve such successes.

I really hate the continuing trend towards a nanny state. We are doing our kids no favours at all. In work my performance is reviewed and I am told in no uncertain terms if I'm not measuring up, I am also rewarded for outstanding performance. How are the kids of today going to cope in the jobs of tomorrow if they don't learn now that poor performance gets you nothing? Their future employers are not going to stand idly by while they muddle through their jobs, at best these people will never achieve anything, at worst they wont be able to hold a job.

I also worry that kids will continue to pursue goals that are wholly unachievable in the mistaken belief that they are achievable, simply because no one dares to tell them otherwise for fear of hurting their feelings. I’m not suggesting that we prevent kids from doing something just because they’re not very good at it, far from it. I am suggesting that we teach kids to have realistic expectations of their own capabilities. If they understand that it’s unlikely that they will ever be brilliant at x but then want to keep doing it anyway, more joy to them. I play the piano, I’ll never be a concert pianist but I can play sufficiently well to please myself, and that is all that really matters.

I realise that this can be difficult. If you have a child who desperately wants to be the best at something, it can be heartbreaking to watch them try and fail, but that’s where parenting comes in. As I understand it, one of our jobs as a parent is help out kids through these trials, to cheer them on to greater things, to be there to dry the tears and administer hugs when they come in second, third, last, whatever. To reassure them that they are not failures simply because they didn’t come first, to teach them that doing their best is the important thing.

But without measures of success how will they ever know the sweetness of actually achieving the first place and knowing that all the hard work was worthwhile? How will the others, the ones that didn’t come first this time, know what they need to do to be first next time?

I'm not suggesting we be brutal to our kids, we don’t have to proclaim to the world that little Jimmy is a failure, but surely a way can be found to teach them this vital lesson without traumatising them. I look forward to the days when I have kids of my own with whom I can celebrate successes, that I can reassure through the not-successes, and that I can help through life’s’ valuable lessons; that most people cannot be great at everything, that it does no harm to strive, and that you don’t always have to be the best if you love whatever it is that you are doing.

Apologies if this rambles a little, sometimes I find it hard to articulate my feelings.

Weight, wobblies, and SBQ

Weight

Some of you may have noticed that my ticker hasn't been updated for a couple of weeks. That because I missed my meeting last week. Today I went along and I've lost another 2.5 pounds *yay* I'm keeping a spreadsheet of my loss and plotting a graph with my actual weight loss, target loss, and a trend line. My first goal was to lose 50lbs by the end of the year, an average of 1lb a week. According to my trendline if I keep losing at the rate I have been, I'll hit my goal sometime towards the end of August!

Wobblies

A couple of weeks ago I had a really bad case of vertigo over the weekend. By the monday I was pretty much ok again and I put it down to lack of sleep or food or somesuch. Well it's back again. I started feeling peculiar mid-afternoon, but I made it home ok. Then about an hour ago I was making my dinner and I started feeling really woozy. It's not quite as bad as last time, my dinner is still in my tum, but I keep finding myself leaning when I stand up or walk around. The worst of it is that I'm supposed to be going to the pub tonight for the quiz. Wookie is already there and he can't get home without me, but I don't feel safe to drive. I'm going to and have alittle lie down after I've written this and hope I feel better so I can go and pick him up at least.

SBQ

And finally... this weeks Stitching Bloggers Question.

Given the option, would you rather buy a chart and get the material
and floss together yourself, or buy a pre-packed kit?

Absolutely no contest on this one. Give me the chart every time. Kits are great when you're just starting out, but when you've been stitching as long as I have, you amass stash, and you want to use that stash. Kits also don't always use the best materials and many of them provide Aida fabric, which is fine if you like Aida, but if you don't then you end up replacing the fabric which costs more on top of the cost of the kit. If there's a design I really really like and it's only available as a kit then I will probably buy it and switch out the fabric, but where I can, I will buy a chart and the materials myself.

I have recently been looking on ebay for charts from kits as many stitchers will buy the kit and stitch it, and then sell on the chart afterwards. Unfortunately I've been had by a seller who was selling photocopies of the charts rather than the originals. To be fair, when I complained she refunded my money and told me to just destroy the copies, but I'm more wary now.

If I could...

Cheekymoo tagged me.

You're supposed to choose 5 and then complete the sentence. Then I get to tag three people, so beware you lot, muwhahahahah!

If I could be a scientist . . .
If I could be a farmer . . .
If I could be a musician . . .
If I could be a doctor . . .
If I could be a painter . . .
If I could be a gardener . . .
If I could be a missionary . . .
If I could be a chef . . .
If I could be an architect . . .
If I could be a linguist . . .
If I could be a psychologist . . .
If I could be a librarian . . .
If I could be an athlete . . .
If I could be a lawyer . . .
If I could be an inn-keeper . . .
If I could be a professor . . .
If I could be a writer . . .
If I could be a llama-rider . . .
If I could be a bonnie pirate . . .
If I could be an astronaut . . .
If I could be a world famous blogger . . .
If I could be a justice on any one court in the world . . .
If I could be married to any current famous political figure . . .

Ok, here goes.

If I could be a linguist . . .
I'd be very cunning ;)

If I could be an inn-keeper . . .
I'd call it Kitty's and it would look like a traditional old tavern, with buxom lusty wench waitresses and chippendale-alike waiters. There would be live music from celidh and barn dance bands, and a huge open fireplace to sit round in the winter. Oh and there would be cats everywhere and a couple of big dogs to protect me and my staff from unwanted attentions.

If I could be a gardener . . .
then the field that I own at the back of my house would be lovingly transformed into a natural wilderness, with trees and shrubs and many many wildflowers growing in the grass. It would be a place to wander, to sit, to read or to daydream. A place for children to play hide and seek and to grow up with a love of nature. A place for dogs to romp and cats to prowl.

If I could be an architect . . .
I'd make my living designing unique houses for people. Each house would be tailored to how the occupants live their lives. Not for me the standard layout. I would get to know the people, follow their days, see what they do when and where and then lay out their house to take all this into account. I'd also make damn sure that there were plenty of power sockets and t.v. and telephone points!

If I could be a musician . . .
I'd be in a rock group as the lead singer. Wookie would be in it too as the bass player. We'd tour the world playing concerts at small venues crammed full of our fans and then we'd go home and just be ourselves and live like normal people until the next tour.

So now I think I have to tag people *rubs hands in glee*

Hmmm....
Ok the first tag goes to Pancho Villa Weasel who has taken over Sooz's blog at the moment and is holding it to ransom because she's ignoring him.
Second one goes to Hazy who's recently reinvented her blog, so a little more introspection shouldn't hurt too much.
Last one goes to Karen. She's going through a bad time at the moment so hopefully this will divert her for a few moments.

Over to you guys...

It’s not always about the pounds

There won’t be an update to my weight ticker this week. I missed my meeting because of being off work and I can’t get to any others. However I did decide it was time for another measuring session, as it’s been a couple of months since the last one.

I was extremely pleased to discover that I’ve lost 2" off my hips, 1" off my waist, 1" off my back (under-bust), another 1" off my thigh (ol’ thunderthighs biting the dust at last) and ½” off my upper arm (aka 'the bingo wings'). Of course my ass is still lardy, just not as lardy as it used to be *yay*

I’ve decided that once I’ve lost the 50lbs that is my first target (oh there’s more than that to actually get rid off!), I’m going to treat myself to a sea-clay body wrap. I had one of these many years ago the last time I lost a significant amount of weight. It was 2 weeks before I got married and I’d lost about 50lbs then.

The process itself is quite tedious and not a little embarrassing and tiring but the results are well worth it. You start out by stripping down to your knickers (the skimpier the better) and pray that the young skinny thing that will be doing the wrapping is as professional as the one I got the last time I went. I may have lost weight, but I was still overweight and she didn’t bat an eyelid, it was quite comforting. So you’re standing there in your birthday suit plus cheesewire, she whips out a tape measure and a biro and proceeds to measure you within an inch of your life. Not just the usual ones, waist hips and bust, but many more places up and down your bod. At each place she measures she makes a little mark with the biro so she can be sure of measuring in the right place afterwards.

Next is the mummification procedure. Fortunately the jars on the shelves around the room are just containers of alternative medicines, rather than the internal organs of previous victims, and the gutting and stuffing phase is skipped over as we go straight to the bandaging. I started to worry a little as she picked up a pair of what looked like barbecue tongs and went over to a large pot full of bubbling goo, but it turned out that this was where the bandages were stewing. This stage does take a while and you have to stand the whole time. The girl starts wrapping you up in these clay soaked elastic bandages, and they are pulled quite snugly around you. They are also quite hot to start with, and while you appreciate a little heat, standing there almost naked as you are, you don’t want to be broiled. You also discover that you are not expected to breathe very much once your chest and abdomen have been wrapped.

After about half an hour of standing and being wrapped… voila! One Nefertiti lookalike (oh don’t I just wish). The they make you get into a giant shell suit to keep you warm. This is a lot harder than it sounds, imagine trying to move when you’re tightly wrapped in bandages.

At this point the experience may vary. The place I went to for mine actually gave you the option of spending your wrapped time (about 45 mins) sprawled on a leg-lift toning-table, which I did. This can help improve your inch loss from the treatment. You can just lie there and stew if you want to, snooze or something.

The unwrapping process is much quicker, but then it needs to be because you’re now standing around in cold, damp bandages that are being removed leaving cold, damp, en-goosebumped flesh. Then comes the fun part, the second measuring.

I don’t remember all the details of mine, it was a few years back now, but I remember the total loss of 15.5” and the loss of 2 whole inches off my waist. Then you should be able to take a lukewarm shower and get dry and dressed. They gave me a list of post-wrap do’s and don’ts to help the inches stay off, and instructions to drink lots of water. As well as the lost inches it helps to tone up your skin and it leaves it quite soft as well.

By contrast I have also tried the cream and clingfilm type treatment. Never. Again.

Stitching bloggers question…

There were actually two questions this week but one of them is a repeat for newer members and I’ve already answered that one. So here’s the other one:

What is your opinion of Internet "freebies?"

I have actually downloaded quite a few freebies, although all of them have been from the sites of designers whose designs I have bought. These freebies tend to be just as good quality as the designs available for purchase, just smaller and sometimes slightly simpler.

I have seen many other free designs available on other sites and the quality has been extremely variable and very few of them have been to my taste. That said, if you are new to the craft and are looking for simple designs to try then there’s plenty to be had for free online.

Maybe, maybe not.

You would think by now that I’d have learned not to get my hopes up, and normally I don’t. Oh, I may have the occasional ‘maybe this time’ moment but I usually manage to squash it pretty quick. However this time around, for some reason, I had started to hope that maybe, just maybe, we’d actually managed it.

It could be because I was about a week and a half overdue and hadn’t had any of the usual PMT symptoms. Ok so I’d been supremely ratty over the weekend but my moods have been up and down for ages now so that’s not so unusual. Of course life’s a s**t sometimes and likes to let you get yourself to the point of thinking it’s all worked out, just before it drops you from a great height and last night the drop came. I actually took the day off work today. Partly because my cramps have come on very quickly and very painfully, but partly because I didn’t want to have to cope with being around people today.

I haven’t heard anything more from the hospital about a date yet, but then I wasn’t really expecting anything soon. It would be nice if it were. I’m not even sure if I’m going in for a consultation or actually for something to be done, they’re not always great about telling you these things straight away, almost as if they want to keep you guessing. I suspect it’ll just be a consult and then I’ll have to wait another umpteen weeks for investigative surgery. My GP mentioned a laparoscopy which I have to say I’m a bit nervous about, not the procedure itself so much as the fact that I’ll have to be under for it. I’ve been under a general twice before and both times were decidedly unpleasant experiences, but the alternative would be to have an epidural and the thought of being aware of them cutting me open and poking tubes inside me seriously gives me the creeps *shudder*. I shouldn’t think about it really, I worry too much as it is.

Ah well, maybe next time.

Help me I’m melting

Somebody throw a bucket of ice water over me, please.

Ever since I got into work this morning I’ve been uncomfortably warm, glowingly warm (see I don’t sweat or perspire, I’m a laydee, stop sniggering in the back). Given that it’s only the start of May and not even that hot outside I can only assume this means that this office I am in will be unbearable come August/September time. So I went to ask the lady in charge of stationary if she could acquire a desk fan for me. Well apparently she can’t, Health and Safety don’t allow the ordering of desk fans. Why!?!?! I don’t get it at all. Yes we have air conditioning. No, it doesn’t work very well. The windows barely open and now we can’t get desk fans. Some people do have them, either from the old days or because they’ve gone and bought themselves one (which I may end up doing). I personally would like to see the explanation from H&S if I were to keel over from heat stroke or somesuch.

I had actually started to cool down a little just before lunch, but then I went up to the canteen and had a meal and now I’m boiling again *phew*

And now the weather…

On Saturday morning I went online and ordered two steamer chairs** for our balcony. I have wanted to sit out there and read on more then one occasion, but the bench seat that is out there at the moment just isn’t built for comfortable lounging. These chairs will be delivered this coming Saturday *yay*

“But how does this relate to the weather?” I hear you cry. Well my friends, I’ll tell you. The weather this Saturday will be sunny and warm, right up to the moment the chairs are delivered. I’ll get them out of their packaging, set them up on the balcony, pop back inside to get my book, sunnies and a drink and lo, the heavens will open and all the water in the skies will descend forthwith upon my poor balcony. For the next umpteen weeks it will persist in being wet and miserable when I’m not at work. You’ll see.

** I was going to post a link but it wouldn't work. If you really want to see a piccy click on this link and it's the 3rd one down.

Stitching round-up

I can’t tell you about the piece I’m working on at the moment as it’s a gift for someone who I think reads my blog. Once it’s been gifted, then you’ll get an explanation.

My last finish was my piece for the UK RR. It’s in the completed section of my sidebar and I’ll try and get that turned into a link to the picture some time this weekend. The theme of my RR is Fantasy Animals in blue and/or purple. I chose Dragon Dreams Fantasy Faire 2005 Ltd Ed design: Imagination Creation. There is actually some wording on the piece but I haven’t decided if I’m going to include it or not. I’ll see how I feel when I get it back sometime in October.

I got some Thread Heaven with one of my orders the other day and I now believe I’ll actually finish Middy. What’s been holding me up is all the dratted metallic stitching in her wings. The rest of her has been finished for ages now but stitching with 3 strands of Krenik blending filament is really not my idea of fun, but Thread Heaven really is heavenly, it tames those metallics and beats them into submission *yay*

Finally, I’ve been a bit lax about the Stitching Bloggers Question recently so here’s me playing catch up…

27/4
Do you set stitching goals

No. I prefer to stitch as and when the mood takes me. Occasionally I will stitch to a deadline such as stitching a piece as a gift for an occasion, or as now when I am in a round robin but other than that it just moves along at it’s own pace.

I think if I set goals and then didn’t achieve them I’d be disappointed, and I’d feel pressured to try and meet them, and quite frankly I have enough of that at work.

20/4
Have you ever been asked to do model stitching? Did you do it? If so, what was your compensation? (money, stash, etc.) If not, why not? If you haven't done it, if you were asked would you? Why or why not?

I haven’t ever been asked. I think it would be fun to do, but I’d only be able to do it if I liked the piece I was stitching. I think I would also want to ask to be able to keep the piece I was stitching as compensation, after all the piccies had been taken obviously, but I don’t know whether designers would like that.

13/4
Do you "stitch with the seasons?" (This could be reflected by the colours that you stitch with, the themes that you choose, or even that during your favourite season you stitch more (or less) than in others.)

I can’t say I’ve ever noticed a seasonal influence on my stitching other than maybe that I spend more time indoors in front of the tv in winter and that’s where I tend to do most of my stitching. So I may stitch more in the winter.

A very British topic

Today I’m going to write about… you guessed it. The Weather.

I’m sure the rest of the world has a reasonable understanding of British weather. It’s miserable, damp, dreary, foggy, etc, etc… But that’s not the reality of British weather. The reality is it’s total unpredictability and the ability to produce every kind of weather known to modern man within the space of 24 hours.

The last three days in my little part of England have gone something like this:

Tuesday: Woke up to look out of the window and see white, lots and lots of white. No not snow, fog. This fog stayed put all day. The building in which I work is 12 stories high (yes ok you NY-ers, stop sniggering) and my desk is on the 10th floor. All day long it was like working in a cloud.

Wednesday: I was rudely awoken at 6:15 by brilliant sunshine streaming in through the bedroom window, the east facing bedroom window (really must get a blackout blind). Driving to work required the use of sunglasses. All the blinds were down in the office and when I went out at lunchtime not only did I not wear my coat, but I didn’t even need my cardie! Short sleeves all the way. Mid afternoon into this pastoral bliss came a brief, but very enthusiastic thunderstorm. I think it was trying to cool everything down that was overheating in the unseasonal sunshine. The sun shone the entire day and temperatures were reminiscent of a summer’s day in August.

Thursday (aka today): The skies are grey and it’s pissing it down. Has been ever since I got up at 6am to answer the call of nature. I don’t see any sign that it’s going to let up at any point.

So there you have it. Ladies and Gentlemen. I give you, The British Weather.

Shitty kitty

No, not me! You people have the strangest minds.

My poor baby Azrael apparently had a bad case of the runs the other day. I found this out the hard way when I let him and Smurf out of their cage when I got home, then picked him up for a cuddle. It wasn’t until I was out in the garden playing with them and I looked down to see these brown smears all over the front of my white top that I realised where the smell was coming from.

Kittens, like babies, are capable of creating a stench totally disproportionate to their size and Azrael is no exception. This is the cat that will jump up for a cuddle and when you go to put him back on the floor because you’re not going to cuddle him right then (you know, cos you’re eating your dinner, or something else equally trivial) he farts in your airspace. I swear he does this deliberately, and the smell! *bleach*

So there I was, in the garden with cat poop all down my front and a kitty about to go haring off after the geese. So I grabbed him before he knew what was what and upended him to assess the situation.

The situation was, that I was holding a longhaired cat that had obviously suffered a bad case of the runs. I flipped him back over and carried him up the garden, holding him under his forelegs, letting the rest of him dangle, at arms length. I’m sure the neighbours thought I’d lost it. Back into the house I marched and straight into the downstairs bathroom, whereupon I proceeded to perpetrate the ultimate in kitty torture… A bath!

This isn’t the first time this has happened and this time he knew what was coming. He started trying to escape before I even turned the taps on, but a kitten is no match for a closed door that sticks a little, and in no time he was up to his tummy fur in warm water, protesting loudly. This is when I break out the Head and Shoulders since I don’t actually have any kitty shampoo. I suppose I should get some really, but the H&S works so well, and leaves his fur silky soft for days afterwards, he’s even more of a pleasure to snuggle than usual *grin*

Once he’s scrubbed and rinsed comes the trial of getting him out of the bath and wrapped in several layers of towels, a) to dry him off and b) to stop him getting away and running outside to romp in the dirt. Then I carried him upstairs and into the living room and shut him in with me while he recovered from his ordeal.

I didn’t get any pictures of him this time, but there is one photo in my album of a previous bathing incident. The thing with longhaired cats is that they look so big and fluffy normally, that they look like scrawny little aliens when their fur is all wet.

I shouldn’t laugh at him really, he takes it very personally.

The Wee Ravening Beastie

Anyone who has ever followed a weight loss plan, especially those doing Weight Watchers or Slimming World or any other scheme that makes you show up for a weekly torture session weighing in, where you mock sympathise with those who have inexplicably gained weight this week whilst secretly gloating that once again you’ve managed to lose. These people will know about the effect that the monthly(ish) visitor has on your weight.

Since I’ve been going to WW this time I’ve had two weeks where I gained weight. When the second time occurred exactly 4 weeks after the first my leader queried whether it was that week. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that my cycle hasn’t been 4 weeks long since 1996.

That actually reminds me of a funny story from when I did WW before. The leader I had then used to refer to the weight gain accompanying the monthly visitor as a ‘star week’. So if you hopped on the scales and you’d put on a pound or two you simply said ‘It’s my star week’ and all would be forgiven. In this class there was a very rare individual indeed, a male. Many times he’d heard women getting on the scale and explaining away their weight gain with the words ‘it’s a star week’. You know what’s coming don’t you. Sure enough, one week he got on the scales to discover that he’d gained weight and stated quite clearly to the leader ‘well it’s a star week’ and then wondered why all the ladies around him dissolved into fits of giggles.

OK, back to the point. Yes I do have a point. The point of all this is that I now know that the weight gain at that time of the month isn’t actually to do with retained water, or bloating or anything else like that. Oh no. It’s all down to the Wee Ravening Beastie! *dah, dah, daaaaaaaah*

This critter takes up residence in your tum the week before you’re due and proceeds to make your like hell for the next week. Suddenly your daily allocation of points, an amount that has been more than sufficient up till now, just isn’t enough, and it’s all down to the Wee Ravening Beastie. It sits there and goes “26 points, that’s barely a snack!”, “Yes I know you had a three course meal for lunch but I’m hungry again and if you don’t get yourself down to the chippy right now and get me a steak and kidney pie with a large chips and curry sauce then there’ll be trouble m’girl”, “Bedtime!, whaddya mean bedtime!, ok well if we have to then you’re going into that kitchen and getting a pint of milk and the rest of the chocolate orange you got for christmas and feeding it to me before you’re getting any sleep”.

Oh, and all the bleeding you do the next week. That’s nothing to do with reproduction, nah. That’s your body getting rid of the Wee Ravening Beastie for another month.

Lure of the Lube

For Smart Bitches Day

This is a request to whomever at a publishers is in charge of book covers, please check how your covers appear when simply glanced at.

This is about a single romance novel that I posess called Lady Lure by Flora Speer.

It’s a futuristic sci-fi romance which is one of the reasons I picked it up. It’s quite raunchy but that’s not the important thing today. No. It’s the cover. More precisely it’s the font the publishers used for the title on the cover and spine of the book that occasioned the comment from Wookie – “Lady Lube! I know it’s romance but purleeeese”

See:


Oh and for those of you who weren't previously aware of this fact. Yes, I read romance novels, lots of them, so there *nyah*

It's googling time again

And so with Sooz making comments about getting searchers looking for Wookie smurf or Wookie tits (if you ask me I think the border living and the woozles have turned her a little nutso), it’s time for the search terms roundup.

So far the more smutty or bizarre things I’ve put in to bait searchers haven’t turned up any hits, but I’ve had a few interesting ones since the last roundup:

Tickle Kitty – Well I am ticklish *grin*. Seems fairly harmless until I did a little googling of my own and discovered that it’s the name of a range of adult recreational toys *snicker*

Google Holly Kitty – Say what?

Skippee – Well yes, I did a post with this title, but why oh why would you be googling for it?

Cat infected toe – Aww, poor puss. I hope they found some appropriate info.

Curse Stitching – Yes, on many occasions, usually while frogging. I am a teensy bit curious as to what they were actually looking for. Maybe there’s a whole untapped market for cross stitch designs there…

Marching kittens – some sort of training regime you think? Good luck to them, I can’t even get mine to come in when they’re called, let alone march!

My favourite so far though has to be:

Rampant Rabbit Instructions – I mentioned this item in a post about Anne Summers parties. For those not in the know it’s what Wookie calls a BOB (Battery Operated Boyfriend). So that rather begs the question, why would any woman need instructions?!?!

New name for DBF

As I’m somewhat fed up of always referring to my other half as DBF I decided to come up with a new name to use when referring to him here. Actually there are lots of names I could use but I’d like to keep this blog at a relatively PG level *grin*

So I flirted my way through a few options. Tall guy, Ciderman, Snarkman even, but none of them seemed quite right, so I decided to fall back on a name that has been used before. One that his colleagues at work gave him when he joined their team. They all had nicknames of their own and there was another guy in the team with the same name, so they needed some way of distinguishing the two. So they worked with him for a couple of weeks, made a note of various characteristics like his height (6’ 6”), the fact that he is more than a little hirsute and his tendency to make a peculiar sound when he yawns, and they named him…

Wookie.

It's a Round Robin

To say that DBF is less than enamoured of my stitching habit is somewhat of an understatement. He mocks my stitching on a regular basis. Past comments have included:

‘Why don’t you just print out the picture and frame that’

‘It’s not creative, you’re just stitching by numbers, calling you creative is like calling someone who paints by numbers an artist.’

‘It’s all so pointless’

I still persevere in talking to him about it though. Telling him about the pieces I’m planning to start. Showing him my progress and expecting him to show a little joy when I complete something. What can I say, I’ve always been a hopeless optimist.

I am at present in the process of preparing for my very first stitching round robin. I was explaining this to him a few days ago. Oh what a mistake.

DBF is a big fan of Derek and Clive (alias Pete and Dud). Their material is extrememly smutty, nay even crude (bear this in mind if you go clicking on any of the links here). Some of it I do find amusing but most of it I don’t. DBF has listened to their sketches so many times he knows most of them word for word.

Aaanyway. One of their sketches contains a section about a Round Robin. So. Everytime I mention the stitching Round Robin I get bombarded with that bit of the sketch…

[CLIVE] But you wrote to the-, who did you write to about this?
[DEREK] I wrote-, well I, I sent a-, I sent a-, a round robin.
[CLIVE] Yeah, that's no ***ing good, why didn't you send a letter?
[DEREK] Well, I sent a letter later.
[CLIVE] What, with the robin?
[DEREK] No, I sent Robin, and then that, you know, it didn't do **** all, so I sent a letter.
[CLIVE] Robbin' Peter to pay Paul that is, it's just ****ing stupid, why didn't you write a letter?
[DEREK] I did write a letter.
[CLIVE] Instead of sending some round-****ing-robin.
[DEREK] I sent Robin round because I thought that would be the way to do it.
[CLIVE] What, Robin had the letter?
[DEREK] No, I just sent Robin round!
[CLIVE] What good is Robin going round?
[DEREK] Until I realised I'd f-, I thought I might 's- .....
[CLIVE] Where di-, where the **** did Robin go round to?
[DEREK] He didn't go round nowhere! I just sent him round!
[CLIVE] Round where?
[DEREK] He came back, he said, "Where the **** am I supposed to go?" I said, "I don't ****ing know, I sent you round, why don't you ****ing go round?"
[CLIVE] Why didn't you send a letter?

It's got to the stage where my RR is now referred to 'The thing, the name of which shall not be mentioned'. Men!

The whole sketch is here please be aware that the language is foul and the subject matters are obscene, irreverant and in places blasphemous. I don’t want complaints that you weren’t warned.

Extra cheese please

After my last post about DBF’s and my taste in films I decided to share with you some of my favourite cult or ‘B’ movies.

Cult films

The Rocky Horror Picture Show
A gay male friend introduced me to this one at the age of 16. I absolutely adore Tim Curry because of this film. The mans voice sends shivers down my spine. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve watched this film and I have 3 of the soundtrack albums (on vinyl) including the audience participation one.
Best bit: When Frank-n-furter makes his first appearance in the lift, I’m always on the edge of my seat and do a little swoon-thing when he starts singing.

Excalibur
I’ve always been interested in tales of Arthur although I was more interested in the magic and mysticism than the hack and slash. Nicol Williamson’s overacting and hamming in the part of Merlin is what makes this film such a total joy to watch. No other film of the subject will ever displace this one in my mind and if anyone ever tries to remake it I will personally go round and torch their studios.

The Princess Bride
This film is just plain silly and I love it. DBF hates it and neither of us can explain to the other why we feel the way we do. There is no one actor that stands out in this film for me; it’s just great fun to watch.
Best bit: The swordfight at the top of the cliffs.
Most quoted line: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Jason and the Argonauts
This is a classic. Groundbreaking animation for the time, it looks awful now, but it still has the power to make me sit and watch it when I switch the TV on and see it’s on.
Best bit: The skeleton warriors from the dragon’s teeth.

Clash of the Titans
I haven’t seen this one for years because whenever there’s a slot on telly for a film of this type they show Jason instead. Another Ray Harryhausen classic.


‘B’ movies

Masters of the Universe
Dolph Lundgren, saying very little, wearing even less, nuff said.

Conan the Barbarian
Arnie, saying a bit more but wearing a lot less, ok I’m a perv *grin*

Krull
This is most definitely ‘B’ rather than cult. The first film to use ‘that’ music (as far as I know anyway) that keeps cropping up in more modern fantasy films, if you heard it you’d know what I mean. It actually had a few, now well known actors in it. Lysette Anthony played the damsel in distress. Others included Bernard Bresslaw (of many a Carry On film) and Francesca Annis, but by far the most surprising is a role for Liam Neeson.

Ladyhawke
It’s a fantasy chick-flick, what more do you want.

Dungeons and Dragons
This is the recent fantasy ‘epic’ with the very delectable Justin Whalin playing the lead character Ridley *yum*. Another one where the hammiest actors provide the best bits of acting. Jeremy Irons as the bad guy hams it up for all he’s worth and Richard O Brien does a fantastic job (as usual) as the slimy-but-suave King of the Thieves. Another thing to look out for in this film is the moments when it takes off other films, such as the swordfight between Profion (Irons) and Ridley where Profion’s sword glows red and Ridley’s glows blue.

So bad they’re good…

Wizards of the Lost Kingdom
This probably should be classified as a ‘D’ movie (or maybe lower) it’s truly appalling and yet because it’s so appalling, I love it. How can you not love a film with such a corny title, in which the evil witch is called Udea (pronounced OO-dear)

Legend
A young Tom Cruise, a white horse with an excruciatingly bad rubber unicorn horn, fields of flowers and fairies, a damsel in distress and Tim Curry (slobber) as the devil. What’s not to love?

Beastmaster
Another scantily clad beefcake in the lead role. I forget who the actor is because in this film it’s the animals that steal the show. The two woozles are the cutest little mischief-makers you will ever see on celluloid.

There are many others but these are the ones that come to mind as I write. Anyway if I mentioned them all there would be none left for you to tell me about.

So what shall we watch then?

Today’s post is brought to you courtesy of Vics Inspiration Inc.

This is a question guaranteed to elicit groans, moans and face pulling from DBF of an evening. Going to the cinema is another trial. We both love watching films, just not the same films.

He thinks I have absolutely no standards and will watch any drivel and seemingly enjoy it despite poor acting, lack of plot and glaring inconsistencies or improbabilities.

I think he’s far too anal and the reason he likes so few films is that he’s a picky git.

We both have UGC cinema cards, which for those of you not lucky enough (or interested in) is a pass that costs £9.99 a month and gives you unlimited access to any UCG cinema (‘cept the central London ones a’course). You can see 6 films a day (if you schedule it right!) or the same film 20 times if you want. This assumes, of course, that you can actually agree on what to see.

Oh dear.

A couple of years ago we decided that we would take it in turns choosing a film and the other one had to go and see it without complaint (before the film anyway). Anything we knew we both wanted to see (LOTR for example) didn’t count. This started out amicably enough, we saw a few films and if one or other of us was a touch unimpressed when we exited the cinema, well that was the way it went.

It all started to get vicious when he chose About Schmidt as his film. If you’ve seen this film you will have your own opinions about it and my intention here is not to start a debate. I will say that it was a very clever, very well made film and the actors were great. Jack Nicholson is not one of my favourite actors but he is good. But regardless of all this I really really didn’t like this film. It was just so depressing. If there were an Oscar for “Film most likely to make you slit your wrists by the end” it would be the runaway winner.

I watch films for escapism. My favourite genres are Fantasy and Sci-fi (surprised?, no I didn’t think so) but I’ll watch pretty much anything, so long as I feel upbeat, reassured, or released by the end. Of course if they're crap they're crap and I'll never watch them again (Valentine anyone?). I don’t mean that all the films I watch have to have a happy ending just that they have to have a resolution. It’s been a while but I don’t remember any kind of resolution by the end of AS. It was more, ‘this is your life now, suck it up and get on with it, it isn’t going to get any better’

Anyway, after being subjected to that, I was forced to retaliate. I happen to like chick-flicks. I watch them for the same reason that I read romance novels. They’re fun, they’re sappy, soppy, cheesy, corny and totally unrealistic but they always have a happy ending. So to counteract the depression of AS I hit back with not one, but two chick-flicks. I know I’m the evil GF from hell aren’t I *grin*

So what did I do to my poor misunderstood DBF. First I hit him with Maid in Manhattan *gasp*. He actually made it through that reasonably intact. A few snide sarcastic comments about pointless, plotless drivel and he was back to his old self. So, thinks I, what next.

Can you guess dear reader, can you even imagine the depths to which I would sink (Bridget Jones eat your heart out)

The very next week I took him to see……..

How to Lose a Guy in 10 days!!!!!!

That did it! We walked out of the cinema at the end of the film with him saying that never before has he wanted to get out of his seat and punch the characters in a film *hee, I win*

Of course this now means that any films like that I have to go and see on my own. This is not a problem, I don’t have any issues with going to the cinema on my own. I just use The Glare^TM on any possible pervert types and they never come anywhere near me.

Time to expose myself

Sorry about the title but I couldn’t resist the opportunity for baiting, even in a post that is going to be serious and hard to write.

I’ve decided it’s time for me to write about something that has been an issue in my life for many years. Some of you will know a bit about this already, as you know me from various online forums. Some may have picked up a few hints from previous posts. Most of you won’t have a clue.

I have alluded, in the past, to things going on in my life that threaten my natural happy-go-lucky-ishness and my hopeless optimism. I sometimes think I wouldn’t have made it this far if I wasn’t a hopeless optimist.

Oh dear that all sounds terribly depressing doesn’t it.

Ok, before you all start thinking I’m suffering from some terminal illness or other, here it is. I can’t seem to get pregnant.

Believe me this is not for lack of trying (oh me back!) but it just ‘ain’t happenin’

It’s quite a long story so I’ll forgive you if you zone out at some point. It all started in the summer of ’69, actually it was the summer of ’87, but the other sounds better. I was quite an ‘active’ young lady and with the naivety of youth I believed I was invincible and took no precautions. This behaviour continued for several years and over time it seemed that I was invincible. So much so that I actually started to worry that there was something wrong with me because I didn’t fall pregnant. You see I knew one of the consequences sufficiently to worry when I didn’t get caught but was still stupid enough to carry on anyway, someone should have slapped me really!

Something happened to me in my student years to cure me of this stupidity and I settled down to a more normal (normal, me! LOL), safer lifestyle. This something I doubt I will ever share here. Moving on, I settled down with a man and in the fullness of time we got married and decided to start a family. At this point I had been on the pill for about 5 years so I stopped taking it.

That was the start of 2.5 years of trying and failing, of self-recrimination, depression and withdrawal. I had various tests, all of which came back normal. My cycle was seriously wacky. I’d have periods lasting 10 days or more and then not have one for 3 months, then have one every 2 weeks and then nothing again. The doctors had no explanation for all this so they fell back on the staple ‘blame it on the weight’ diagnosis. Yes I was overweight, badly so, but I was dieting. After 2.5 years the tests finally got to the stage where they wanted to see my hubby and that was when the other shoe dropped.

He suddenly told me that he wasn’t sure he actually wanted kids anymore. They would mess up his life and stop him doing what he wanted, when he wanted. He wouldn’t be able to just go out to the cinema or down the pub with his mates or anything else spontaneous. I was stunned. You could have slapped me with a wet kipper and I wouldn’t have blinked. Quite apart from the hellish time I’d been through trying to get pregnant only for him to tell me he’d changed his mind, it was because he wouldn’t be able to do all these things THAT HE NEVER DID ANYWAY! His response: “But I could if I wanted to.” (Aside: he still doesn’t do any of those things, he just doesn’t do them with someone else now). 6 months later he told me he wanted a divorce and I told him he could have one, that was Christmas 2000.

Three years (almost) ago, my best friend and I decided to make our relationship more than just friends. We had known each other for 8 years by that point and I finally realised it was more than just friendship on the day he told me about how shittily his ex-GF had treated him and all I wanted to do was go and claw her eyes out. I decided that to prevent any other woman from treating him that badly I would just have to keep him for myself (that's DBF).

Having known me for that long, he already knew about the traumas I’d been through and how badly I wanted kids and fortunately he did too.

Skip to 18 months ago when we decided we could stop preventing, even if we weren’t actively trying. Then back in October last year we finally moved in together and started trying more actively (no I don’t mean leaping off wardrobes or swinging from the rafters you mad lot!) However to date I am still very much unfertilised.

So now to the present. A few weeks ago I finally got up the courage to go to the doctors again (note: my cycle has remained erratic ever since I came off the pill 7 years ago). Based on past experience I fully expected to be told to go away and wait at least another 6 months, which I don’t want to do, I’m not getting any younger.

You can imagine my amazement when not only was I not told to go away, but the doctor actually understood my concerns and took it all seriously. She said that the year of half hearted trying counted based on my past experiences, and that while my weight may be a factor I have other symptoms that mean it could be something else (PCOS was mentioned). She feels that if there are any problems then they are most likely with me since I would be supremely unlucky to have 2 partners with problems, although DBF will still get called up at some point, just to check.

A few days ago I had a letter from the GYN department of the local hospital telling me that I’ve been referred and I should get an appointment within the next 4 months. It’s a long time, but after everything I’ve been through, just to know that something is finally happening is enough of a relief that I can wait a few more weeks.

I’m sharing this now for several reasons. I have wanted to before, but not had the courage to do so. I read a couple of other blogs written by women who have infertility issues, most notably (for me) Chez Miscarriage, and the courage shown by these women in sharing their story has prodded me into doing the same.

You needn’t worry that this is going to turn into a fertility oriented blog, that’s not my intention. I want to continue the tone of this blog much as it has been. Just every now and then I will write about how it’s going. What I’m finding out and how it’s affecting me, in the hope that it will help other readers in the same way that reading other blogs has helped me.

Misc scritchings

Thank you to everyone for the good wishes for my improved heath or my birthday. Apologies for being so grousy recently, I hate being ill.

Baiting update

So far the google-baiting hasn’t yielded any results, however I don’t know how often the google-spiders do their crawly thing to update the indices, so it could be that the recent spate of baiting terminology hasn’t yet made it into search-central (so you may still win that bet Sooz!).

Just to get the search engines juiced up here are a few amusing things said or overheard in my office over the years (I.T. department)...

[Cleaning Lady] Mavis, where did you put the mop? I need to do my back passages!

[Helpdesk log] Take insurance marker off {customer name} so that user can execute the customer

I think this one says it all for the I.T. geek steriotype:
[Developer 1] I thought the ZX Spectrum was wonderful when I first had mine.
[Developer 2] And then you discovered girls...?
[Developer 1] No, I stuck with my Spectrum!

[Team Leader] What do you mean cream cheese and bananas have nothing to do with sex?

[User] Could it be a rounding error because it’s only out by forty pounds?

[I.T. Manager] RPG – how do you spell that?

Big extensions

Architect guy came to visit yesterday and listened to all my mad plans for global domination extending the house. DBF has always wanted a pool room (for a pool table, not a swimming pool) and I said he could have one here. I need a workshop for my jewellery smithing, with a proper workbench and somewhere safe to keep the butane cylinder and the dangerous chemicals. I also want a bigger kitchen, all of which adds up to quite a lot of work (and money) so now we’ll wait and see what the chappie comes up with.

Stitching news

I was a little optimistic about being able to start stitching on my RR piece last night. The marking up is taking longer than I thought, but I should get it finished tonight and then I will be able to start the stitching.

Flabby & frilly

I had a text from my bestest chum from school on Sunday wishing us a Happy Birthday (she and I share the day and the year, and we used to look alike and managed to pass ourselves off as twins on several occasions, if you’re really really good I may be able to produce pictures) so I responded with a ditto and a few queries about her life at the moment including her wedding plans (she’s getting married next May). Originally she and DF were hoping to run off to Vegas, but it seems her family is none too keen on the idea (surprise; not really, knowing her folks) so I’m definitely stuck with the position of chief flouncy confection wearer. Not that I don’t want to do this for her, after all she did it for me, and I won’t let her get away with making me wear some sort of meringue, but now I really need to bust a gut losing weight. Ok that sounds wrong on some level, but it’s staying.

And finally…

There seem to be a lot of people having birthdays at the moment, and most of them are bemoaning getting old, myself included, so when I found this quiz on Whiz’s blog I decided to see what it would make of me and I’m quite pleased. It’s got me considerably lower than my actual age. So next time someone accuses me of not acting my age I can agree with them *hee*

You Are 24 Years Old

24 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Oh what a weekend

I can’t seem to shake the lurgi’s at the moment. I’ve had three colds so far this year, and not just little sniffles for a couple of days, oh no, we’re talking full-blown goop factories in your sinuses, constant itching down one side of your face that (after much scratching) leaves you looking like a bad imitation of the Phantom of the Opera, that constant tickle up one nostril so you always feel like you’re about to sneeze without the satisfaction of actually sneezing, which also makes your eyes water. There’s the headache that feels like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves are having a ceilidh in hobnail boots, with magic mushrooms, and then just as things are starting to clear up, the final insult of the cold sores covering your lips making you look like you’ve been snogging rats (plague carriers in case you didn’t get the link there) and the look on your SO’s face when he absent-mindedly goes to kiss you goodbye just says it all.

This weekend I was looking forward to some serious lounging with stitching. ‘Twas my birthday on Sunday (no, I’m not telling you which one) so I was also looking forward to being pampered. Friday morning I woke up from another restless night so exhausted that I daren’t drive to work (public transport being largely useless) so I called in and took an impromptu day’s holiday (I think they’re called duvet days in the US). Other than being tired, it was quite a good day. I had a nap in the afternoon and a couple of our friends came over in the evening (pre-arranged weeks ago) and we played board games and had a few drinkies and generally made merry until the wee small hours.

The friends both stayed over but having small children they are used to rising early even after a late night so we were up earlyish too to see them off. After about an hour DBF decided to go back to bed for more napping, I stayed up to stitch, and it while I was stitching that it happened.

I’ve had the odd dizzy spell before but this one was a doozy. The first I noticed was when I turned my head to look for something and the room spun (think head rush) ok thinks I, let’s just sit still for a moment and it’ll go away. But it didn’t, it got worse and I was starting to feel nauseous too. After about 15 minutes it had got so bad that I was getting quite scared, so I decided to go upstairs for a lie down and a cuddle from DBF. Well standing up aggravated the nausea and that was when I realised that I couldn’t actually stand upright. I thought I was but I was actually falling to the right. I made it upstairs by moving very slowly and holding on to things, at which point I had to make a small detour into the bathroom (nuff said). So when I finally made it into the bedroom I was in a right state. DBF was awake by now and saw I was having problems so he helped me into bed. And that’s where I stayed. All day long. I dozed for a while and found when I had to get up to answer the call, that I wasn’t wobbling anymore, but after about 5 minutes it came back again, so back to bed I went.

I ended up snoozing most of the day away. DBF did a spot of research online and told me that I’d most likely had an attack of vertigo and that if it persisted I’d have to go to the doctors, ‘oh and you can’t drive’ says he. Great, so I have to weave my way to the bus stop, or call a taxi. I spent the evening on the sofa. I managed to finish my stitching on Fanciful Butterfly (see link under Completed Stitching in my sidebar) and only had one or two mild attacks.

Sunday I woke up feeling a little woozy but managed to get through the day with only the occasional head rush and felt well enough by the evening to go to the local Chinese restaurant for a birthday meal (very nice food) so I’m in work today and feeling pretty much ok. I know there are people who suffer from vertigo all the time and I can’t imagine what that must be like, just my brush with it over the weekend was scary enough thankyouverymuch.

I did have good birthday though. DBF gave me DS9 season 2 on DVD, a photo diary book of a cat called Ernie, a comic compilation book and a Birthday Tatty Teddy which brings my rare collection of ‘teddies that DBF has given me’ up to two.

I also managed to cut, bind, wash and iron the fabric for my Round Robin, and design the border for it (backstitched knotwork). I’ll start marking out the stitching areas tonight and maybe even make a start on my bit.

Hmm, maybe I should change the name of my blog to Kitty's Ramblings...

Stitching bloggers question

What is your next speciality stitch?

Well I've recently been doing hardanger, drawn thread and ribbonwork in the form of Heirloom Birth Sampler from The Victoria Sampler, so I think I'm speciality-stitched out for now. I did buy a beginner’s book on each subject and some gorgeous sample packs of ribbons from Vikki Clayton, and I want to try some of the ribbon flowers from the new book. Of course that means finding time in-between the Tatty Teddy Afghan, the Round Robin that's just starting, all my existing WIP's and Chatelaine's Egyptian Garden that I'm about to start.

Actually I think there some speciality stitches in the Chatelaine so they'll probably be the next ones I add to my repertoire.

Google-baiting & kitten antics

Ok I've decided to call it Google-baiting: the art of bringing people to your blog from google by using much sought-after phrases out of context.

So to start it off...

The weather is warming up now and the garden is sprouting fresh greenery everywhere, the ducks and geese on the river are getting frisky and it's looks like the swans are a couple. It's all good, because I adore baby ducks and I'm sure the baby geese and swans will be adorable too.

There's a tree not far from the balcony that seems to be the local community centre for all the small birds, so it's branches are always full of house sparrows and blue tits. In an attempt to entice them closer I've hung a couple of feeders (one seed and one nut) above the balcony and they do seem to be attracted. Anyway I was reading in the living room the other day and I glanced up to see a large pair of tits perched on the feeder pecking away at the nuts (Hi there fellas, sorry to disappoint you but this is about British birds of the feathered kind). Unfortunately when I tried to sneak across the room to get the camera they saw me and took off.

Now it's light in the evenings when I get home (and the weather is milder so I can leave the door open) I've started letting the kittens out to play in the garden. Azrael took to it right away but Smurf was really timid and would run back indoors at the slightest provocation. I didn't mind this too much, it keeps her away fromt he road. At the weekend I opened the balcony door and propped it, so as to get some fresh air into the house and the pair of them were playing out there, chasing bits of fluff up and down. I became aware of a funny noise, so I went out to see what the problem was and Smurf was lying on her side scrabbling frantically at the boards and drooling a little, very panicked. I got hold of her and she started to calm down and then she freaked completely, scratched the hell out of me and bolted. I followed her and managed to assure myself that she wasn't hurt or poisoned, just scared stiff, so I left her to calm down. I think maybe her tail had got caught between two of the boards but I'm not sure.

Later on after she'd come for a cuddle and everything was ok again, I heard a clunk and more scrabbling followed by a thud. This time the dozy moo had decided to try and jump from the balcony railings to the next window along, which was open, but nowhere near enough for her to get through. So she had clung briefly to the windowsill and then fallen down onto the patio (only one story), again she was fine if a little confused.

Since all these escapades it's as if she's a different cat. It's almost like she's decided that after all those traumas nothing else can bother her and now she races out the back door almost as fast as Azrael (she's got shorter legs) and bombs around the garden with him quite happily.

Now I’m looking forward to getting a catflap fitted and finally being able to get rid of the litter trays and accompanying stink (and whinging from DBF) *YAY*

Search terms

Thanks to Sooz I now know what search terms are leading people to my blog and so in true blogging form I am here today to share some of these with you.

Starting with some of the more normal ones:

Vikki Clayton Ribbon – well since I ordered some and I believe I blogged about how fabulous they are this is not wholly unexpected.

sparklies – name of my jewellery company, so again not really a surprise.

lurve – well it was in the title of a post, but why would you be searching for it I wonder?

me to you – the name of the range of Tatty Teddy designs, in my stitching WIPs list.

sore big toe – another post title here but I suspect someone was looking for remedies rather than my cautionary tales of self-treatment.

The Tatty Teddy and cross stitching – well duh =)

Politically Correct Phrases – this one has cropped up many times since I wrote an entry with this title. No one commented though.

Celtic Autumn – more stitching, a design I’m planning to start just as soon as my fabric arrives *drool*

Waterfall cross stitcher – well the stitching bit’s obvious, not sure about the waterfall though.

“path of honor” –harriet –klausner +diana +francis – well I have read the book by Ms Francis so it’s been in my reading list and a little research tells me that Ms Klausner has a review site and reviews a lot of books, so I suspect someone was trying to find other reviews. I hope they found my review site since I have done one for this book.

In fact I’m going to ramble here and say that Ms Francis is a lovely lady. I visited her website and read her entreaty to all her readers to encourage others to buy and read books so that authors get their royalties and can keep writing. So I signed her guestbook and mentioned my review site and said that I was trying to do my bit, and I got a lovely email from her thanking me for the pointer and the review (it was a good one). A few days ago I was looking at the source of hits for that site and noticed a lot of people were coming in from her site. So I went for a nosy and it turns out that she has amended her entreaty and included a link to my site as a good example of what other people can do! *whee*

Ok back to the search terms, They’re getting a little more bizarre now:

“photoblog” “my arse” – Ooookay, well I have a photoblog, not sure I’ve ever mentioned my arse before but still.

big brother kitty – well the kitty bit’s clear and I’m sure I’ve probably used the other two words in posts but in combination *scratches head*

scary cat faces – I actually have one of these, must post it sometime, oh wait, my description of me, the scary cat lady, now I see why this one got me.

stoo – another post, but why on earth would someone search for it?

lisle and tissue – another strange combo, lisle comes from Holly Lisle in the books I have read section.

kitten blogs for neopets – You’ve got to wonder really.

diamond ddb profile – I don’t get this one at all.

But my favourite so far:

Squirrelly wraith – I do recall describing one of my colleagues as squirrelly and I think I used wraith for W in my Monstrous Manual Alphabet. Beware the squirrelly wraiths! They suck out your life energy and then go and sit in a corner and mutter to themselves.

I’m actually tempted to try and use bizarre phrases in some of my posts in future, just to excite the searchers. I was catching up on blogs yesterday and someone (I can’t be sure but I think it may have been cheekymoo) was blogging about expensive hair products and needing to find a discount store so she could buy big jugs of the stuff, and at that point stuck in an aside for the googlers who may have arrived there searching for big jugs (nope guys, nothing here either!). Anyway it struck me that I could really have some fun with people who might be searching for less than wholesome material by using less than wholesome phrases totally out of context.

Of course I realise that I’d probably be opening myself up to comment-like abuse, but then that’s why I upgraded to Haloscan.

Heeeeeeeeeere’s Kitty

Hi guys, I’m back. Feeling a lot better, or at least I was until I had to get up at 7am to get to work after being off all last week – meh. It would also be nice if my sinuses weren’t full of some PVA-like substance that means I have to go to the ladies every time I want to blow my nose. Before any of you get any, frankly sick, ideas (I know you lot), it’s simply that I don’t want all my colleagues looking round for the herd of stampeding elephants each time I break out a tissue.

Apart from the cold, I had quite a nice time last week. I spent most days sat on my behind stitching and ‘watching’ Angel, seasons 2 and 3, with my adorable fuzzbutts keeping me company, at least until they decided to wage WWIII over the occupation of my lap and I threw the lot of them out of the room for a couple of hours.

I had a parcel of fabrics arrive from Sugar Maple Fabrics on Tuesday morning which occasioned much fondling and I then spent the rest of the day washing, ironing and labelling. Then I decided that one of the pieces was perfect for Fanciful Butterfly and so I started stitching. It’s about 80% done now. I had to frog the border a few times as the colours are meant for an ivory background and the fabric I’m using is blue, so I had to change the colours to be more in tune with the fabric and keep the ‘look’ of the piece. I’m quite pleased with how it’s turning out and I’ll hopefully be sharing a piccy very soon. I also bid for, won and received an Afghan off Ebay, from a seller in the US, which cost me half what I would have paid for it, from a UK based shop (and that’s including the cost of shipping it!).

I’m sorely tempted to start stitching on that next but I can’t. I’m in a UK based Round Robin that has been organised, and I really need to prepare my fabric and get stitching on my piece so it’s ready to go. I also need to hunt out patterns for the others that will be coming my way. We’ve all chosen our own themes and I have things in mind for most of them, but two of the themes are cottages and hedgehogs, neither of which are things that I would normally stitch. Fortunately I have a massive collection of cross-stitch magazines so I should be able to find something in them; it's just going through them all.

Finally some humour. Go and read Garnets blog about Hippo racing in Australia here, and Kim’s post about how to truly embarrass your daughter here.